Note: Names have been changed to retain the anonymity of the entities/individual.
From 1951 to 1975, James Anderson worked in a chemical and oil refinery plant near the Gulf Coast of Mexico. James installed and maintained insulation that was used to cover large areas of high heat in these plants. Sadly, that insulation consisted of asbestos particles. James had no idea then that the asbestos fibers he breathed in daily would one day be the cause of deadly mesothelioma cancer.
He also didn’t have any clue that the white powdery substance that he brought home on his clothes would jeopardize his family too. Everyday, he used to come home and hug his daughter. Then he would strip off the clothes that he had been wearing while working and put them in the laundry. At the age of 54, James was diagnosed with mesothelioma and died a short time later. The family was shattered and heartbroken with pain and grief for the sudden loss of a loving father and a husband, James.
Tragically, his daughter had also inadvertently contracted mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure through her father. Though Lucia didn’t encounter any sudden problems while caring for a family of four – including one daughter and two sons, when she reached her forties, she noticed some unusual changes in her body and health. Her breathing became awkward with chest pains and abnormal dry cough and in the worst scenario; she experienced haemoptysis or cough of blood.
In October 2000, the doctors diagnosed her with tuberculosis and then pneumonia. She went through a surgery where her phrenic nerve was removed.
Three months later, she again started vomiting blood and was rushed to the hospital where she was diagnosed with Pleural mesothelioma. It was a complete shock to her as she had never smoked a cigarette, drank excessive alcohol, worked at asbestos industry or had any prior disease(s) that could cause this life threatening cancer.
Upon consultation with the doctors, she came to know that she had contracted the same disease as her father due to asbestos exposure. Filled with despair and despondency, Lucia died six months later leaving her three grief-stricken children motherless.
Unfortunately, this has been the case with generations of workers who were inflicted and will continue to be affected by mesothelioma while working in asbestos enriched environments.
As a result, many people who contract this disease also endanger their family members, who don’t even work there. Working against environmental laws, companies openly employ asbestos materials that threaten the lives of people working there.
There is a strong need for anti-asbestos policies in the working environment that should be implemented with enforcements. Also, support by the government and environmental agencies, is needed to put a stop to spread of mesothelioma and save precious lives.
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